Mare Body Condition

[dsmelnic]

Last year I purchased a mare after the track meet and wintered her in hopes to take her to the breeding shed this spring. She is a very larged framed tall 17hh scorny mare. All winter she has been feed double grain/beet pulp morning and night, vita's and minerals and free choice hay. Now as the weather warms up and her long winter hair falls-she looks ribby and seems to have lost body condition. I'm baffled-she eats like a pig and still can't put on a pound. She has been dewormed regularly. I want to get her bred in afew weeks-but she looks anorexic. Why is she losing weight?. I have never seen this and was wondering if anybody had any clues to what is wrong?

[CA Michael]

My guess is she is still detoxing from racetrack drugs, quite possibly Equipoise. If so, she might take another year or so to become breedable. I had the same thing happen a year ago to a filly I bought off the track. Her trainer was LIVID when I asked her if she had used steroids on her, but I've no doubt she was. Even now, she is not presenting good follicles. Keep feeding your mare the right stuff, lots of green grass and exercise, and tease the hell out of her. She might come round for you. Good luck.

[Laurierace]

My guess is ulcers and worms. I would run a power pac through her and then a two week course of gastroguard and see what you have then.

[CA Michael]

Good point. re: Gastroguard, someone posted on here not long ago about a less expensive alternative to it. Either through a discount supplier or generic. Any info?

[Gerry]

See this happen all the time...check her for ulcers but my guess its steroids. If you can get a good follicle breed on it but more than likely you are going to have to wait until next year. Equipoise and Winstrol bulk up the mares and as they withdraw they lose muscle tone and weight no matter how much you feed. As long as she is no longer losing weight and is gaining I wouldnt worry about breeding her ... many vets have told me its better to breed a mare who is thin but gaining than who is overweight..easier to get infoal and stay infoal.

Good luck and I hope you can breed her this year.

[summerhorse]

I'd also add check her teeth and make sure they don't need floating and maybe switch to senior feed or at least a pelleted feed over grain, some horses just have trouble absorbing grain nutrients esp. if they aren't chewing it well.

I also read that if you feed hay right after concentrate (like 2 hours) it will push the concentrate through faster. So if you have time (or can arrange it) you could try feeding concentrate after hay or waiting a couple or three hours to put the hay in after feeding concentrate.

And some TBs just don't winter that well and lose weight no matter what you do!

[magic code]

Good point. re: Gastroguard, someone posted on here not long ago about a less expensive alternative to it. Either through a discount supplier or generic. Any info?

Omeprazole?

[dsmelnic]

Thanks for all the info. I have been teasing her with my Paint stallion for two months now and she is responding well. Also three weeks ago I had her checked for breeding soundness and the vet stated she was cycling and had multiple follicles. My concern is that she looks like crap and appears to have lost weight. Three weeks ago her 4 inches of Canadian pelt actually made her look healthy. Going to the breeding shed I want her gaining not losing. My trainer that purchased her for me suspected strongly that she was on steroids. I know cortosone was used on her late season for inflammation. Would cortosone have the same affects as Equipose and Winstrol seeing there steroids but for different uses.

[CA Michael]

If you can get her bred on a single follicle, by all means do it! Even if she has a double, your vet can pinch off one down the road. It sounds to me like you're doing all the right things. I would only add that high levels of the Omega-3's will expedite the detoxification process. Platitum Performance (often touted on this forum) is loaded with them.

I also recommend another product but warn you the name is a bit alarming: Body Builder (the one from Equiaide) is a NATURAL herbal product which works in conjunction with the pituitary gland. It will not only help to flush toxins, but to restore healthy blood flow to the uterus and increase LEAN muscle mass--the good kind. It DOES NOT act as a steroid would. It's not inexpensive, but a good investment ($50 month) in your mare's health in her new job. I've also had good luck in using it as a replacement (if not just an enhancement) for regumate.

You may also ask your vet to administer a dose of Equimune IV before covering her. This product has been used for years at the racetrack to fight upper respiratory disease, but in the last few years has been proven effective in broodmares as an aggressive combatant of uterine infection. Sure worth the $50! Let us know how you fare.

[clh]

Michael - we too use Body Builder on our mares (and later in the year on our foals) with great success! I'm a believer in the product

You could also add some corn oil to the feed which will add calories but I can tell you alot of my mares ate it up and some of the others wouldn't touch the stuff. Smaller feedings throughout the day versus two feedings may help her gain weight as well. Higher quality hay may help as well. Good luck and let us know how she does! And I agree - if you get a good follicle send her to the shed - it is better to be slightly under weight than over weight. I have a mare now that is due in May and she is a COW no matter what I do to try and keep her weight DOWN. She gains a ton when pregnant!!

[Vindicated]

I may be completly off base, but I have about 17 years experience with ex-racehorses-broodmares, performance horses, ect...but....they seem to go through a metablic change-from being a lean mean running machine to a couch potatoe...even the ones that are put into semi-serious work....not much that we are going to do re-training them is going to come close to keeping them race fit....boredom at being tossed into a new, less demanding routine can sometimes lead to weightloss....
Also with her loss of muscle tone, you are going to notice her shape change, kind of sag ect...

In general, I have found-ruling out everything teeth, worms, ulcers-that it takes anywhere from 6-18 months to get an ex-racehorse to "settle" personality helps alot here-

If her coat is shiny, without any conditioners-spay on silicone type stuff-and her tail and mane are not icky (broken, thin)-but if she truly looks healthy-just thin-than she is probably not wormy or ulcered-I have never witnessed a wormy, ulcered (either/ or-both) look and act healthy-
Patience here is a virture-use your judgement